Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

I am unsure whether the Minister heard the point I was making, which was that the decision and the analysis made to set up Irish Water were based on inaccurate and, frankly, wrong information. Incorrect figures were given for the pipe network in Ireland, as well as the number of people employed in Scottish Water. As a result of that incorrect analysis, the Government has had a false policy. The local authorities, where they could do so, were dealing with improving water conservation and fixing leaks but instead, under the guise of allegedly dealing with Ireland's primitive water structure, one has the establishment of a new company. While all of the waste products, septic tanks and wastewater facilities, are being left in the hands of local authorities, responsibility for the water service is being given to Irish Water and the only logic to this scenario pertains to the commodification of the water supply. The Minister is well aware that once one starts to charge for a public service in this way, one cannot stop private operators from bidding to get their greedy claws on it. Consequently, his commitments that there will be no privatisation, frankly, are not very comforting.

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